Exemplary embodiments herein generally relate to a vehicle bed extender device for increasing the carrying capacity of a cargo bed beyond the bed area.
A device attachable to a load carrying bed or frame of a vehicle, such as a pickup truck or the like, in order to increase the load carrying capacity of the load carrying bed is known. However, the known bed extenders suffer several problems. For example, many of the known bed extenders attach to the tailgate of the vehicle to provide the extended load carrying capacity. However, the additional weight of an extended length load is preferably spread uniformly across the load carrying bed and/or the vehicle frame, rather than on the tailgate of the vehicle. This is because the tailgate generally cannot provide the desired structural support for such loads.
Other known bed extenders are mounted directly to the vehicle frame and project rearwardly from the vehicle. Such extenders are difficult and time consuming to install, and are not readily removable to permit normal functioning of the load carrying bed of the vehicle. Still other bed extenders have a frame which can be inserted in a box receiver hitch located on the vehicle. The frame projects rearwardly to support the rearward end of a load projecting outward from the rear of the vehicle. While this bed extender is simple to install and remove, it requires that the vehicle have a box receiver hitch, and also accumulates the weight of the rearward end of the extended length load and directs it to the box receiver hitch.